Stormers take five in Melbourne

The Stormers all but cemented their position in the top three of Super Rugby on Friday as they thumped the Rebels 40-3 in Melbourne.

The Stormers all but cemented their position in the top three of Super Rugby on Friday as they thumped a poor Rebels side 40-3 in Melbourne.

Victory was the ideal tonic before boarding the plane back to Cape Town, capping what has been a successful three wins from four record on tour. The leading South African franchise will now ready themselves for the Bulls' visit to Newlands.

The Rebels meanwhile were not up to the usual high standards they set when on home soil and will be disappointed, particularly after coming off a bye week. They rarely threatened the Stormers whitewash despite being boosted the return of Julian Huxley, Gareth Delve and Michael Lipman.

Due to their lack of ball and penetration, the possession statistic was with the visiting team and, led by the maturing Kurt Coleman, they set about doing a professional bonus-point job.

It did take a while for the Stormers to cut loose however and the scoreline doesn't quite tell the full story, with Allister Coetzee's side scoring two late tries through Nick Koster and Jean de Villiers, both of which were set up by Andries Bekker.

For large parts of the early stages, there was something of a stagnant feel as only Bryan Habana's set-piece try on seventeen minutes was added to eleven points from Coleman. Huxley kicked a penalty for the Rebels but then almost threw an intercept pass to Habana.

The second-half was much more entertaining as Coetzee threw on the likes of Juan de Jongh, Bekker and Deon Fourie, who played key roles in helping pick up the try bonus-point.

First it was the rangy lock who put the ball inside to Koster with three minutes left before the replacement hooker and Bekker combined to send over De Villiers for the icing on the cake.

Man-of-the-match: The Stormers are down to their fourth choice number ten but the performance of Kurt Coleman may now see him climb that ladder in head coach Allister Coetzee's mind. The youngster kicked well from the tee and was also deserving of his try.